This Week in Classical Music: December 15, 2025. Beethoven.Tomorrow, December 16th, is Ludwig van Beethoven’s anniversary, or at least that’s usually assumed, as all we know he was baptized on December 17th of 1770; at that time in Germany, newborns were customarily baptized within a day.Till this week, in our library, we had 29 out of 32 published piano sonatas that Beethoven composed during his life (at the age of 12-13, he wrote several piano sonatas, but later in life, he never intended to publish them).The piano sonata no. 1, op. 2, no. 1, was composed in 1790-92, the last one, no.32, op. 111, thirty years later, in 1821-22.We think that all of Beethoven’s numbered sonatas are great, even those composed for his students and friends (that’s not to say that we believe everything Beethoven wrote to be great: as all composers, with the possible exception of Mozart, he had his slips).One of the three sonatas we were missing but now have is the no. 15, op. 28, Pastoral, composed in Vienna in 1801 and dedicated to Joseph von Sonnenfels, an enlightened writer and jurist, and a friend of Mozart’s.1801 was a difficult time in Beethoven’s life: his deafness was progressing, and he was depressed.On the other hand, around that time, he fell in love with at least two women: the beautiful Giulietta Guicciardi, his 17-year-old piano student (Beethoven dedicated his “Moonlight” sonata to her; the relationship was platonic), and his nascent relationship with the then still-married Josephine Brunsvik, to whom the “immortal beloved” letter was addressed (or at least that’s a popular assumption).
As for the sonata no. 15, it turns out that it was not a coincidence that we didn’t have this one in the library until now: even though we think it’s one of Beethoven’s best, it is rarely played in concert.The wonderful Czech pianist Ivan Moravec is superb in it, here.The vinyl was issued in the US in 1970 by the Connoisseur Society, but we suspect that the recording was made earlier.
As we had some technical issues with the site, we’re late with this entry, and shall make it brief.Zoltán Kodály, the Hungarian composer, who created a unique method of music education, was born on December 16th of 1882. The Soviet composer Rodion Shchedrin, the husband of Maya Plisetskaya, was born in Moscow on December 16th of 1932.And finally, Domenico Cimarosa, the Neapolitan composer of numerous operas, of which l matrimonio segreto (The Secret Marriage) is still quite popular, was born on December 17th of 1749.
Beethoven 2025
This Week in Classical Music: December 15, 2025. Beethoven. Tomorrow, December 16th, is Ludwig van Beethoven’s anniversary, or at least that’s usually assumed, as all we know he was
baptized on December 17th of 1770; at that time in Germany, newborns were customarily baptized within a day. Till this week, in our library, we had 29 out of 32 published piano sonatas that Beethoven composed during his life (at the age of 12-13, he wrote several piano sonatas, but later in life, he never intended to publish them). The piano sonata no. 1, op. 2, no. 1, was composed in 1790-92, the last one, no.32, op. 111, thirty years later, in 1821-22. We think that all of Beethoven’s numbered sonatas are great, even those composed for his students and friends (that’s not to say that we believe everything Beethoven wrote to be great: as all composers, with the possible exception of Mozart, he had his slips). One of the three sonatas we were missing but now have is the no. 15, op. 28, Pastoral, composed in Vienna in 1801 and dedicated to Joseph von Sonnenfels, an enlightened writer and jurist, and a friend of Mozart’s. 1801 was a difficult time in Beethoven’s life: his deafness was progressing, and he was depressed. On the other hand, around that time, he fell in love with at least two women: the beautiful Giulietta Guicciardi, his 17-year-old piano student (Beethoven dedicated his “Moonlight” sonata to her; the relationship was platonic), and his nascent relationship with the then still-married Josephine Brunsvik, to whom the “immortal beloved” letter was addressed (or at least that’s a popular assumption).
As for the sonata no. 15, it turns out that it was not a coincidence that we didn’t have this one in the library until now: even though we think it’s one of Beethoven’s best, it is rarely played in concert. The wonderful Czech pianist Ivan Moravec is superb in it, here. The vinyl was issued in the US in 1970 by the Connoisseur Society, but we suspect that the recording was made earlier.
As we had some technical issues with the site, we’re late with this entry, and shall make it brief. Zoltán Kodály, the Hungarian composer, who created a unique method of music education, was born on December 16th of 1882. The Soviet composer Rodion Shchedrin, the husband of Maya Plisetskaya, was born in Moscow on December 16th of 1932. And finally, Domenico Cimarosa, the Neapolitan composer of numerous operas, of which l matrimonio segreto (The Secret Marriage) is still quite popular, was born on December 17th of 1749.